By the mid 1970's I had graduated college and was working full time, and with the absence of Top 40 Radio, a lot of what was going on musically pretty much blew right by me. I was aware of groups like The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, and Iggy Pop's Stooges of course, but what I describe as an 'angry' sound never really appealed to me. So the ninth chapter in "The History of Rock 'n' Roll" provides at least some historical background on how this new genre came into being as a raucous challenge against big business corporate rock and the 'beautiful' music of The Sixties.
It was a bit of an eye opener though, to hear the Sex Pistols own manager, Malcolm McLaren, saying that he didn't think they were any good. In his own words, to be more specific - "They were so bad". Not too much equivocation there. For all of it's notoriety back in the day, I never knew that CBGB's was a dumpy bar, the place where groups like The Heartbreakers, Talking Heads and Patti Smith got their early start. The term 'punk' itself became a way to look, dress and sound, and once established here in America, the movement found it's way to England in sort of a reverse British Invasion scenario. Funny, but I never heard the Brits refer to it as the American Invasion.
As the music evolved, it eventually gave way to the New Wave sound of the Eighties, with bands like U2, The Police, and Blondie, followed somewhat later by groups like Nirvana. By no means can this one hour segment be considered definitive on the history of Punk Rock, but I found it to be generally informative. It's not the kind of stuff I personally listen to though, as the cacophonous sound just sends me up a wall. As if to prove the point, Iggy Pop mention how "I also played vacuum cleaner. People found it interesting". Good for them.
It was a bit of an eye opener though, to hear the Sex Pistols own manager, Malcolm McLaren, saying that he didn't think they were any good. In his own words, to be more specific - "They were so bad". Not too much equivocation there. For all of it's notoriety back in the day, I never knew that CBGB's was a dumpy bar, the place where groups like The Heartbreakers, Talking Heads and Patti Smith got their early start. The term 'punk' itself became a way to look, dress and sound, and once established here in America, the movement found it's way to England in sort of a reverse British Invasion scenario. Funny, but I never heard the Brits refer to it as the American Invasion.
As the music evolved, it eventually gave way to the New Wave sound of the Eighties, with bands like U2, The Police, and Blondie, followed somewhat later by groups like Nirvana. By no means can this one hour segment be considered definitive on the history of Punk Rock, but I found it to be generally informative. It's not the kind of stuff I personally listen to though, as the cacophonous sound just sends me up a wall. As if to prove the point, Iggy Pop mention how "I also played vacuum cleaner. People found it interesting". Good for them.